Subject of the Frontispiece.

Engraving from the 1803 edition of the Almanach des Gourmands

p. iv.

At the back of an office, decorated in the most modern taste, which is to say with furniture in the most ancient style, the corps of a library can be found on whose shelves one perceives, instead of books, every type of food provision, among which one can make out a suckling pig, diverse types of pâtés, enormous saveloys, and other small delicacies accompanied by a good number of bottles of wine, liqueurs, jars of preserved fruits, and brandy, etc.

From the ceiling, in the guise of a lantern, a gargantuan Bayonne ham hangs.

In the forefront of the scene is a table covered with exquisite dishes for more than fifteen people but on which one sees only two place settings.

A buffet, upon which the second service sits, and a serving table placed between the two chairs, announces that this solitary dinner will not be troubled by the presence of any servants.